Lawmakers study immigration crackdown

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, April 20, 2008

Associated Press Writer

Conservative Texas legislators made it clear Monday they'll again push for strict state laws to crack down on illegal immigration when lawmakers convene in January.

A chief area they're likely to concentrate on is encouraging local police departments to work with U.S. officials to enforce federal immigration laws, which the House State Affairs Committee is studying.

"The fact of the matter is, our borders are broken," said Republican Rep. Debbie Riddle of Tomball, urging lawmakers in 2009 to battle illegal immigration. "My district, and I think the people of Texas, are demanding action."

Texas lawmakers fought fiercely over immigration and border security in 2007. They ended up providing about $110 million in border security money for state and local law enforcement, but did not _ despite some initial proposals _ require local officials to enforce immigration laws. Other proposals died when some Republican leaders worried they would run into constitutional challenges in court if they were passed.

Rep. Leo Berman, a Tyler Republican, told the committee he wants to see legislative proposals in 2009 requiring voters to show photo identification to prove their citizenship, penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants and paying for local law enforcement to train to enforce federal immigration laws.

Berman once again raised his suggestion that Texas challenge the automatic citizenship provision of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. Berman contends that children of illegal immigrants born on American soil aren't entitled to U.S. citizenship. Fellow lawmakers sidelined his proposal last year.

El Paso attorney Kathleen Walker, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, appeared before the committee and chastised some of the witnesses and lawmakers' use of the term "illegals" to refer to immigrants.

She warned against police stopping motorists simply because of the color of their skin or because they are driving certain types of cars.

"We're talking constitutional principles today and the preservation of those principles," she said. "We have to be cautious how we treat foreign nationals in this country."

In one program outlined for legislators Monday, the Irving Police Department told of its policy that screens every person who arrives at the local jail with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The person's driver's license, identification card or past fingerprints if they've previously been arrested are checked against the federal agency's records.

Since September 2006, the Irving program has identified 2,600 illegal immigrants, an average of 150 per month, said Police Chief Larry Boyd.

The program has been emulated elsewhere in North Texas.

It also has generated protests from Latino rights advocates who say the police are using racial profiling.

Nationally, more than 100 local law enforcement agencies have begun or are awaiting training to help the federal Department of Homeland Security find illegal immigrants and turn them in for deportation. Among them are Los Angeles and Orange counties in California and Maricopa County in Arizona, which includes Phoenix.

The federal Criminal Alien Program attempts to identify criminal illegal immigrants who are incarcerated in federal, state and local facilities and obtain a final order of deportation before the end of their sentence.